Unemployment is hitting workers longer and harder in this recession with 23% of all unemployed out of work a year or more, according to a new study by the Pew Economic Policy group.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 44.1% of the unemployed nationwide in March had been our ot work at least a half year. In California, it was 39.2%. That compares to the recession of the 1980s, when those out of work at least six months peaked at 26%.

Government numbers, however, don’t break down unemployment beyond 27 weeks. Pew’s study further refines the data.

Pew confirms anecdotal reports that older workers are having a more difficult time getting a job once they lose one. By Pew’s count, nearly 30% of unemployed 55 or older have been out of work a year or longer. That’s a higher rate than any other age group. (Click on the chart to enlarge.)

Among Pew’s other findings:

Long-term unemployment cuts across nearly every industry and occupation. Even in fields with overall unemployment rates that are relatively low, workers who are unemployed are remaining so for a long time.

Once a person is out of work, a high level of education provides only limited protection against a long period of unemployment. Twenty-one percent of unemployed workers with a bachelor’s degree have been without work for a year or longer, compared to 27 percent of unemployed high school graduates and 23 percent of unemployed high school drop-outs.

Unemployment payments this fiscal year are expected to be five times greater than in the years before the recession, totaling $168 billion from October 2009 through September 2010.